With a razor blade and glue brush, our third President carefully excised parts of the Gospels he considered supernatural and untrue - including all references to the divinity of Jesus. The final product is known as the Jefferson Bible. It was a work of private reflection, written in secret. Had it been published during his lifetime, it might have become one of the most controversial religious works of the time.

 

The Jefferson Bible has just been re-issued by Tarcher/Penguin. The original copy, newly conserved, is now on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History until May 2012.  Flip through virtual pages of the Thomas Jefferson Bible, courtesy of the Smithsonian.

 

Pictured: a fold-out tab Jefferson glued to the margin of page 56 of the original Jefferson Bible.

 

Mitch Horowitz, editor-in-chief at Tarcher/Penguin Publishing House

The Pew Forum has just published the largest survey of Mormon attitudes and beliefs ever conducted by a non-Mormon group. Some findings are what you might expect: most American Mormons are white, conservative, well-educated and family-oriented. Others are surprising: many Mormons still feel misunderstood, but optimistic about their acceptance by the rest of society.

 

Greg Smith, a senior researcher for the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life

Frank Schaeffer spent his early career in the evangelical royalty - a "700 Club" regular and the son of a famous Christian theologian, Francis Schaeffer. He eventually turned his back on many fundamentalist teachings, and discovered that his mother, Edith, had her own reservations. Especially about teachings on sex.

 

Frank Schaeffer, author of "Sex, Mom and God: How the Bible's Strange Take on Sex Led to Crazy Politics - and How I learned to Love Women (and Jesus) Anyway"